All crew members were rescued safely when a Greymouth fishing boat got into difficulties during gale force winds near Jackson Bay in south Westland at 4am today.
Talley's-owned Jay Penelope, with four crew on board, struck trouble at Smoothwater Bay, a small bay immediately south of Jackson Bay, after being caught by a wave that tipped it and stopped the main motor.
The boat remains anchored at Smoothwater but is listing badly.
Although the foul overnight weather started clearing by late morning, conditions remained foggy. The poor visibility prevented investigators from reaching the remote site, which is only accessible by sea, air or a walking track from the road end at Jackson Bay.
It was understood a woman who injured her ankle when being transferred to another boat during the rescue, was a companion of one of the crew members on the Jay Penelope.
The Solid Energy rescue helicopter was dispatched from Greymouth to fetch the woman but it was unable to make it to the medical clinic at Hannah's Clearing, so an ambulance took her the short distance to Haast.
Haast fisherman Kerry Eggeling has been asked to visit Smoothwater on behalf of Maritime NZ and the West Coast Regional Council to check for oil leaks.
He said the crew and rescuers would have been "heaving and bouncing" during the overnight storm.
Mr Eggeling was at home at Okuru this morning after the fog set in, reducing visibility to 200m to 300m.
He said there was a "huge gale" about 4am, when the accident happened.
Boats often moved out of Jackson Bay to shelter in Smoothwater Bay during northerly storms, but if the wind changed to the west, it became untenable and they had to get out "straight away".
"I know nothing about what happened, but it's a reasonably narrow entrance and there are rocks out there."
Mr Eggeling hoped to fly into the site later today, noting that it would be "bloody hard" to salvage a boat from the bay.
The Jay Penelope, which left Greymouth on Wednesday, was believed to have been inshore fishing for cod and tarakihi at the time.
As weather conditions improve the crippled boat was to be towed to Jackson Bay this evening, where it would be pumped out and the engines repaired.
